A thought-provoking poem about what makes some men commit atrocities on a large scale.

Wanton murder, rape, and genocide…
the hapless victims have no escape,
no where to run, no place to hide.

Throughout all of Mankind’s history,
in ethnic conflicts the more powerful side
often resorted to these. Why’s a mystery.

How does Man learn to hate so much
that he desires to butcher other men
and to gang-rape their women in such
brutal fashion? What’s the answer then?

How could evil so consume the heart
that Nazis exterminated millions upon
millions of Jews, making murder an art
with gas chambers getting the job done?

In Darfur, in Rwanda, black men fell
upon other blacks, murdering hundreds
of thousands, raping thousands as well.

How is it possible for a man to be so filled
with violence that he allows himself to commit
these atrocities? Do not those he’s killed
haunt his dreams and heavy upon his heart sit?

Are such men dead inside, devoid of all
human compassion, lacking any feeling
save contempt (or apathy)? How small
must the soul be ‘til genocide is appealing?

Perhaps it is simply beyond all comprehension
by any sane man what demons allow other men
to commit these travesties so terrible to mention.

Wanton murder, rape, and genocide…
the hapless victims have no escape,
no where to run, no place to hide.